schenectady has it!

Hey, that could be Schenectady’s new motto! Or, maybe not. Too many opportunities for realy nasty fill-in-the-blanks.

I have heard for a long time that Schenectady is really stepping it up, so with the help from local friend Jackie (who lives in a downtown loft and simply knows the best places in the city) I took a trip there last Saturday. It won’t be my last, because there were many places with beautiful and interesting decorative things and I didn’t have time to check out them all.

Our first stop was the Katbird shop, which is EXACTLY the type of place I was hoping to find. The main room is a large, bright space housing original, and surprisingly affordable, works by artists/artisans from the region and beyond. Here’s a collection I love:

The shop has other rooms to poke around in with kitchy antiques and oddities from far-away places, like this rather creepy pirate (?) that looks like it just got paroled from the crypt:

I’ll spare you the life-sized photo on this page, just click for bigger if you dare.

Despite this ghoul –who, by the way, might be perfectly at home in your decorating scheme, and if so, please don’t be offended by the crypt references — The Katbird Shop has beautiful and funky handmade art for your home or that of a friend.